Friesencold

It was a fabulous weekend. We spent the day on Saturday in downtown Chicago with Holly and Dwight (who arrived that morning from Boston), eating pizza at Lou Malnati’s, going to Navy Pier, walking like 6 miles. I love so many of the pictures of that day and the next, which was the BIG BIRTHDAY BASH for Bauer and Cash. Dwight and TJ both got some good shots with their big ole cameras. Here are just a few of my favorites:

My movie star picture.

Holly's movie star picture.

I just like this one.

We rode the Navy Pier ferris wheel.

The eggless chocolate cake I made for Bauer.

Watermelon, grapes, and 12 months of Cash.

Pretzel options and dessert options.

Happy 1st Birthday Cashie!

Tasting the tofu chocolate icing!

Happy 4th Birthday Bauer!

I love ice cream!

And my new Chuck Taylors from Holly and Dwight.

Happy Birthday to my Cash! I’m definitely not getting tired of you, sweet boy. And I’m definitely, definitely not as tired as I was last year this time!

Here’s the final installment of car seat pictures.

I'm One!

And here’s how I found Cash in his crib after his nap today!

Still saying, I'm One!

We had a great day today. We went to our appointment at the Target Portrait Studio at noon today. I picked 2 different poses of Cash to buy, and one of the boys together (wearing matching shirts). I can’t wait to pick those up next week.

This afternoon was exciting because there were gifts and cards to open. Nana sent along an Open Now gift for each of the boys, and thanks to what she sent Bauer, I had an easy time of cooking dinner tonight. Bauer literally sat at the table for a good half hour working on his Curious George Invisible Ink/Sticker Book Nana sent him. Here’s a picture of how happy that little book made him.

Thanks Nana & Papa!

Right before dinner, we decided to let Cash open his one gift from us. I had noticed recently a toy that my friend Hannah has for her little ones, and when I did a little looking on Amazon, I found out it’s the Peek-A-Blocks Tumblin’ Sounds Giraffe.  However, the price is $139.99….you know how some things are weird like that because either they are not made anymore or some other seller has the price way inflated. Anyway, I was looking at Once Upon a Child consignment store the other day, specifically for any Peek-A-Blocks stuff, and they had the exact giraffe I was wanting for $8.50, plus it had 3 of the Peek-A-Blocks with it! So Bauer and I bought it for Cash, and wrapped it for Cash, and opened it for Cash, and played with it for Cash

We didn’t get any pictures of the whole ordeal (just some video), but it’s a hit, especially with Bauer. I had mentioned to Nana recently that we were interested in some of the Peek-A-Blocks stuff, so she got Cash a whole set of the ABC Peek-A-Blocks for his birthday. Bauer has already picked out all his favorite Peek-A-Blocks and stowed them away in an empty box that is filled with other favorite things of his at the moment. We’re working on sharing with Cash.

I am so happy to have my sweet Cashie. I love his happy, calm, curious spirit. I love that I have had Cash for a whole year already and I am very excited about spending a whole ‘nother year with him till it’s the next August 28.  Thank you God for giving us and Bauer such a good gift.

Here’s my favorite picture of Cash lately:

Cash loves getting in this little green bin.

And finally, here’s a look back:

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

Some books that Bauer and I are really enjoying together lately are:

Big Brown Bear’s Up and Down Day – by David McPhail
Big Brown Bear’s Birthday Surprise – by David McPhail
Big Brown Bear Goes to Town – by David McPhail
Too Many Toys – by David Shannon
Toy Boat – by Randall de Seve & Loren Long
Little Britches and the Rattlers – by Eric Kimmel

I learned about most, if not all, of these books from Jim Trelease’s website. He’s the guy who wrote one of my favorite books, The Read-Aloud Handbook. On his website are some book lists, including new reviews that were not included in his book.

The next time we go to the library, hopefully today in fact, I plan to see what other books these same authors have written. I heart with all my heart when I find a new good children’s author. I am keeping a running list of books Bauer has enjoyed and authors we’ve discovered. Cynthia Rylant is still our #1 favorite (thanks to my friend Beth). Bauer is also enjoying David McPhail’s books First Flight, Fix-It, Emma’s Pet, and Budgie & Boo.

We’re in full party-planning mode here, getting ready for the 1st Annual Birthday Bash for Bauer and Cash this coming weekend. I am going to try my hand at an eggless chocolate layer cake that I found online, per Bauer’s request for a chocolate cake. Anyone know where to buy Dr. Oetker’s Organic line of products – specifically the Chocolate Icing Mix? I thought Whole Foods, but we checked there today. We did get some other treats for the party at Whole Foods, including the Healthy Kids juice pouches and spelt pretzels (for our gluten-free guests). Most everything else I can buy at Meijer I believe. TJ’s been getting our yard all cleaned up so we can host our guests in the backyard without fear of kids getting lost in the weeds. I am not joking! It looks great back there now, except our garden is still pretty much a jungle. I really don’t get how 4 tomato plants can quadruple in size and turn into one big leafy monster.

Cash will turn 1 this Friday! I just scheduled his 1 year portrait session at Target. It will be the first time having pictures done at Target (Cash’s first pictures of any kind other than the ones we’ve taken), so I’m excited to see how they turn out. I will probably go ahead and take Bauer back to the Picture People at the mall closer to his birthday (Sept 15) since I have a coupon for a free 8×10 and since his first 3 years were done there.

TORT (Ten Other Random Things):
1) We saw Rob Bell this past week at a theater in downtown Chicago. We went with our friends Jeff and Jaime and enjoyed the time with them, as well as Rob’s hour and a half talk on suffering and creativity. I loved the idea that God is “the God who wastes nothing,” meaning none of our suffering is wasted. Sounds like a good tattoo to me.

2) My sister Holly and her husband Dwight are coming to visit us this weekend, which means they will be at the party. Yeah!! And we are going to spend some time in the city as well…getting some pizza and hopefully going to the new Sear’s Tower glass observing deck. You wanna do that Holly?

3) We moved Cash into Bauer’s room after we got back from our Canada trip and it is working out so well for them to be together. We love having our room back, not having to be quiet as a mouse if we need something from our room after Cash goes to bed. We moved the computer desk out of our dining room into our room where the crib was, so it’s nice to have some more space out in our shared living area.

4) I’m going to use my new Caribbean Blue Dutch oven that TJ recently ordered for me from Vitality later this week. The recipe is called Aegean Eggplant with Lentils. I don’t know what Aegean means, but I bought two nice eggplants from the farmer’s market on Saturday and I bought some dried lentils at Whole Foods today. Capers from Trader Joe’s. I look forward to putting those things together and seeing how it turns out. I have never used a Dutch oven before.

5) I finally updated my book list on the blog (see the Books tab at the top). And you’ll see that I finally did finish Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child, but I can tell you I am not finished with that book! I need to remind myself of the “emotion-coaching” steps on a very regular basis, because it really helps me to treat Bauer with more kindness, empathy, and respect when those ideas are fresh in my mind. You’ll also see I’m reading Mark Bittman’s Food Matters, and while his approach is more moderate than a lot of the other reading I’ve done on nutrition, it is still very helpful and simple advice to eat less animal products, less refined flours, and less junk, while at the same time eating more plants. Plants, plants, plants. I love plants.

6) TJ recently ordered a book for us called The Backyard Homestead, all about how you can use 1/4 acre of land (i.e. your very own yard) to raise most of the food that your family needs to live on. Very cool ideas in there! We wouldn’t be into raising animals for meat or their eggs, although having a bigger vegetable garden, some fruit trees/plants, a honey bee hive, etc are all pretty appealing to us. It seems like it will be a great reference book for us when we are ready to be more serious homesteaders.

7) Bauer’s imagination for dragons and monsters continues in full force. We got a book at the library by Mercer Mayer (the Little Critter author) called The Bravest Knight, and it’s just about perfect. My friend Lisa told me about A Dragon in a Wagon by Lynley Dodd, so I’ve got that on hold at the library to pick up soon.

8′) I’m trying to decide how to go about weaning Cash a bit further. As it is now, I nurse him each morning around 6:45am, he takes 6 oz of breastmilk from the freezer around 11:30am (I counted this morning and there are 75 oz left in the freezer), I nurse him again at 4pm, and then he takes 7-8 oz of milk from the freezer again just before bed at 7:15pm. I have still been pumping each night around 10pm and usually get 8-9 oz. So each day I’m actually only having to use 5 oz from the freezer, which means at this rate, I have about 15 days left till the stored milk runs out. I am considering dropping the 4pm nursing time and doing a snack after his nap instead. Then I could nurse him before bed and not have to pump in the evenings. I think I may wait till next week after his birthday and try that, and then keep the 2 nursing times (morning and evening) going for a while longer.

9) My friend Julie gave me a very cool birthday gift. It’s from the line of tea products called Tea Forte. She gave me a package of 20 silken tea infusers, a porcelain teacup with lid, and 2 tea trays. I finally used the stuff today for the first time and really enjoyed treating myself to some special green tea in a special cup with a special little tea tray to put the used tea bag on. Thank you for such a thoughtful and nice gift, Julie!

10) We are still TV-less (meaning no cable and no rabbit ears) and enjoying it. Except, of course, I have to let Bauer watch DVDs. Well, I guess I don’t have to, but it’s hard to imagine not. His current favorite is the LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD that my friend Gretchen told me about. It is a great way to help kids learn the sounds of the letters and Bauer truly seems to love watching it! The cool thing is that it goes right along with the LeapFrog Magnetic Letter set for the fridge, so Bauer is hearing the same thing from two different places. I haven’t quizzed him on any sounds yet, but I bet it’s sinking in that little noggin of his. Just like everything else is these days!

TEO TORT (The End Of Ten Other Random Things)

Nana and Papa with Cash, Bauer, Bethany, and Meredith

We had a GREAT trip to Canada a week ago. It was our first road trip (other than the RV trip last Thanksgiving) since we lived in Orlando. That was when Bauer was Cash’s age.

This trip to Canada was to spend time with TJ’s extended family, meaning grandparents, aunts, uncles, first cousins, and second cousins. They all live in Canada, pretty close to Niagara Falls. TJ’s parents and TJ’s sister and her husband and kids (who all live in PA) met us there so it was a big Friesen family vacation.

We had planned to stay in a camper with TJ’s mom and dad at a place called Sherkston Shores, kind of a like a family resort/campground/water park. But once we got there, we realized it probably wasn’t going to work very well to have Cash in the pack ‘n play in the camper because there was nowhere to put him other than in the small middle gathering area of the camper and it was here we would have had to hang out in the evenings. It was rainy the first couple of days we were there, so for us to just be outside while he was sleeping wasn’t really an option. Thankfully, TJ’s cousin Lori had an extra room we could use at their house. That was where TJ’s sis and family were staying anyway, so it made it even more fun for Bauer and Cash to get to be around their cousins Bethany and Meredith. Plus Lori and Dean have 6 kids, two of whom were about the same ages as Bauer and Bethany, so there was pretty much free entertainment for all the younger kids the whole time we were there.

There is so much more I could say about our stay in Canada (for example, TJ and I came away with so many positive feelings and things we learned from spending time with family), and maybe I will someday, but for now here are a few pictures of some fun things we did:

Dinner at Lori and Dean's house

Bauer and Noah at Sherkston Shores

Bauer and Noah using the squirters on TJ.

Bauer and Noah playing in the front yard.

Bauer and Noah playing in the back yard.

Bethany, Hollie, Bauer and Noah on the trampoline.

Visiting Great-Poppa in the retirement home where he lives.

TJ with his grandpa, dad, and our boys

Our family, Tera-Lee and Joe with their girls, and Nana and Papa

Dean and Lori took us waterskiing!!

It had been 5 years, but Ginger remembered how...

and TJ did too!

On the car ride home: snacks and movies...

and a little Tim Horton's.

This wasn't on our trip but I had to include this one of Cashie.

Last one for today.

I first posted this recipe for Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad back in March, but we’ve been having it a lot lately and I’m loving it. TJ too! I have tried a variety of different vegetables besides the ones the original recipe calls for and every time, it turns out just fabulous!

I wanted to post a picture of how the dish looked most recently and give an updated recipe as well. The recipe is updated in the fact that I’ve added even more veggies than before, using more summer produce than before, and I one-and-a-halved the recipe. How would you say that? Not doubled, but upped by half! Before, there was just 1 cup of quinoa, and here there is 1 1/2 cups. Et cetera. Oh yeah, I would have put in some broccoli too, but we didn’t have any. I think there can never be too many veggies, but you know that by now, don’t you?

Served with Rice Bread and Raw Honey

Recipe 3: Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad

1 1/2 cups pre-washed quinoa, such as Ancient Harvest Brand
3 cups vegetable broth
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 beets, cut into 1″ cubes
2 small sweet potatos, cut into 1″ cubes
2 small zucchini, cut into 1″ cubes
1 yellow squash, cut into 1″ cubes
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 pound of green beans, ends trimmed
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I often will up the temp. to 425 during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking.

Bring quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce to simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed (10-15 minutes).

Combine all the vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Whisk the olive oil, soy sauce, and pepper together and pour over the vegetables. Stir to coat the vegetables well. Drain and transfer the vegetables to a cookie sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes, tossing the veggies halfway through to ensure even cooking.

When the vegetables are cooked through and beginning to brown, remove from oven. Mix the vegetables into the cooked quinoa, toss well, and serve.

Serves 4-6.

Finally, a Rachael Ray recipe I can use. I have always thought most of RR’s recipes have too much butter or heavy cream or olive oil, or all three! But this is quite a healthy recipe, and of course tasty. You will see I made some adaptations to the recipe below.

Served with Rice Bread and Spinach Salad

Recipe 21: Hummus Sesame Noodles

1 pound angel-hair pasta (I used thin spaghetti)
3/4 cup hummus (I used Trader Joe’s original)
1/4 cup chicken broth (I used organic vegetable broth)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (I used low-sodium)
1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts, crushed (I used sliced almonds and toasted them at 350 degrees for 7 minutes)
1/3 cup sesame seeds, toasted (I used the McCormick’s already toasted sesame seeds)
15 snow peas, thinly sliced the long way (I used at least 30!)
3 scallions, thinly sliced (believe it or not, I used 3 scallions, just what the recipe called for!)

Hopefully all those little tweaks weren’t too annoying for you to read along with the recipe. I guess I like making a recipe just how I like it.

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente (follow package directions). Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the hummus, broth, and soy sauce. Toss the hot pasta with the hummus mixture, mix in snow peas, and let cool about 15 minutes.
3. Add enough of the reserved pasta water to loosen the noodles. Serve into bowls and top each with almonds, sesame seeds, and scallions.

Serves 4.

This is the book Bauer is head-over-heels in love with at the moment.

Bauer actually picked it from one of those display stands that is at the entrance of the children’s floor in our library. I think he liked it because of the whale on the front. I seriously think we have read it 47 times in the last week.

Me, I’m digging Frederick Buechner’s Listening to Your Life. A few weeks ago, it was referenced at church during the pastor’s talk, so I checked it out from the library. I loved it so much, and Amazon sold it so cheaply (six bucks!), that I had to buy it for myself with my birthday stash o’cash.

TJ finished 3 books while was away for 4 days over this past week doing video work for his job in California and in Denver. Wow is what I said to that! You are curious to know which ones?

1. Crazy Love by Francis Chan (this is the book our small group is studying)
2. Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell and Don Golden
3. Another Turn of the Crank by Wendell Berry

Cash hasn’t ripped any pages out of books since the last time I wrote about that. Oh wait, yes he has – he ripped just a tiny bit off one page of Kevin Henkes’ Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, and I remember TJ saying to him right after, why do you always have to pick Mom’s favorite books?

One of my favorite memories from time spent at my grandparents’ house when I was a child was picking Queen Anne’s Lace (a weed that looks like a flower) and putting it in jars of water with food coloring and waiting overnight for the white lacy flowers to change colors. I keep seeing the Queen Anne’s Lace everywhere around here, so I decided this past weekend to let Bauer in on the fun.

After our walk to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning, we stopped near the train station to pick some of the flowers to bring home and put in vases with water and different colored drops of food coloring which I had bought just for the occasion.

This is before:

And here’s the next day:

And now to end it: